Global Health Concentration

Concentration Leader

Jeffrey K. Griffiths MD MPH&TM
Director, Global Health
Associate Professor, Dept. of Public Health and Family Medicine
Jeffrey.Griffiths@tufts.edu

Other Concentration Faculty

Odilia Bermudez, PhD, MPH, LND
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Public Health and Family Medicine
Odilia.bermudez@tufts.edu

Ronald P. Ruffing, MD MPH
Assistant Professor, Dept. of Public Health and Family Medicine
Ronald.ruffing@tufts.edu

Introduction

The Global Health Concentration is designed for students who anticipate studying, identifying, and solving public health problems in a global environment. It seeks to provide students an interdisciplinary set of skills; to prepare students to recognize biomedical, social, economic, and other factors that affect health; and to identify, design, monitor, and implement interventions that address health disparities. Most students graduating with this concentration are fully prepared to work in international settings and organizations. The Global Health concentration takes full advantage of the great breadth of Global Health related courses and scholarship at Tufts, which values active citizenship and internationalism.

Learning Objectives

We aim to provide students with educational and practical experiences that will allow them to understand, promote, and participate in global health initiatives, understand and analyze the different approaches used around the world, and to participate in solving the health challenges of the globe. We anticipate our graduates will be well prepared to work in both private and public organizations focused on global health issues and solutions, evidencing ethical conduct, cultural sensitivity and values of active citizenship.

Competencies

• Understanding global health issues: Our students will become competent in understanding global health issues. In order to address this competency, our students will be able to identify, define and analyze the characteristics and determinants of health around the globe using interdisciplinary approaches. These include political, socioeconomic, biomedical, behavioral, and environmental determinants.
• Addressing global health issues: Our students will become competent practitioners of global health. They will accomplish this by developing skills in the design, evaluation and implementation of global health research and applied programs.
• Advocating for global health change: Our students will become competent policy advocates for addressing global health disparities. This competency will be addressed through skills related to policy identification and development, to engagement in collaborative global initiatives, and to effective communication.
• Practicing global health at the highest ethical level: Our students will demonstrate Tufts core competencies of active citizenship and internationalism, while encouraging cultural sensitivity in their work as global health practitioners.